CHAPTER X
OFF FOR THE WEST
Professor Snodgrass fairly leaped aboard the airship. Bob and Ned,abandoning their work of casting off the ropes, which they againfastened, held out their hands to him, and he grasped them firmly.
"Safe on board!" gasped the scientist. "I feared I would be left!"
"You're all right!" shouted an enthusiastic admirer in the throng.
"That's right," added Andy Rush. "Come at last minute--almostleft--rush on board--never mind the crowd--jump in the air--falldown--get up--see the bugs! Whoop!"
"Bugs? Bugs? What bugs? Are there any bugs I can capture here?" askedthe professor turning around to face the crowd from the deck of theairship. Evidently he was unaware that his specimen box had come openin his flight, and that his path was strewn with creeping and crawlingthings.
"Bugs! I should say there were bugs!" exclaimed a woman. "One of theterrible creatures is on me now! It has seven wings and about fiftylegs! Ugh! Take him off me, somebody; do!"
"Seven wings!" cried the professor, excitedly. "Why, my dearmadam, that is one of the most wonderful and rare creatures inexistence! There is only one known, and I have it. It is a sort ofdragon-fly-centipede. Don't move, I beg of you, and I will capture itin a moment. I wonder where it came from?"
"From your box, Professor," said Jerry, coming from the pilot house."Your box is open and----"
"Oh, my good gracious! So it is!" exclaimed the scientist with a groan."All my valuable insects have escaped! That seven-winged centipede isone of them. Help me to capture them, boys, I beg of you!"
"Everybody get busy!" sang out Andy Rush. "Capture the professor'sspecimens!"
"I'll kill this seven-winged beast if some one doesn't take it off me!"screamed the woman.
"Don't! Don't! I beg of you! Handle it gently," pleaded Uriah Snodgrass,as he prepared to get off the airship. "I will take it from you in aminute," and he got his small net ready.
"There's some sort of a toad crawling up my leg!" yelled a man. "Do youwant that, Professor?"
"Do I want it? I should say I did, my dear sir. That is related to thecelebrated horned toad that I captured after a long chase, on a journeyto California. Please hold it for me. I will be there in a moment; assoon as I have captured the seven-winged centipede."
"Will it bite?" asked the man, as he gingerly extended his hand towardthe reptile.
"It's as harmless as an elephant," responded Mr. Snodgrassenthusiastically, for to him one animal was very like another; hefeared none, and they all seemed to like him.
By this time Bob, Ned and Jerry were laughing so heartily that theycould not be of much service to their friend. He seemed all unconsciousof the excitement he had created in the crowd, and his only desire wasto recapture his specimens. There was an uneasy movement in the throng,as women or girls found themselves confronted by a snake or a lizard.
"Don't hurt any of them, I beg of you," pleaded the professor. "I willsoon have all my beauties safe," and with a quick motion he capturedthe curious insect that had lighted on the woman who first gave thealarm.
"Beauties!" exclaimed another woman, with a sniff. "Look what he calls'beauties!'" and she pointed at a squatty toad that was trying to hideunder a stone.
"Don't step on it," cried the scientist. "I'll have it safe in amoment," and, with a quick motion, he cast the net over it, andtransferred the toad to the green box.
"There's some sort of a big bee trying to sting me!" came a boy'svoice, from the outer edge of the crowd. "I'm going to swat it good andhard if it does."
"No, don't! Pray don't!" pleaded Uriah Snodgrass. "That is the onlyspecimen of a buzzless bumble bee that I have ever seen. It is veryvaluable. If it stings you just stand still, and it can't get away.Then I'll catch it. Don't disturb it if it stings you!"
"Hu! Guess I'd like to see myself!" retorted the boy. Then he gave ayell. "It's stinging me now!" he screamed. "I'm going to swat it goodand hard!"
"Wait! Wait!" begged the professor, as he tried to get through thecrowd to where the lad was, hopping about in pain. Just then the youthyelled again.
"It's flown off me," he said, "and it's on John Stubb now! Look out,John, or it will bite you!"
"You put it on me on purpose," complained John. "I'll kill it!"
But by this time Professor Snodgrass was on hand and had made aprisoner of the buzzless bumble bee.
Then a woman reported that a snake was coiled up in front of her, andabout to strike, and the scientist hastened over and captured that,stating that the snake was a harmless one. By this time the three motorboys, and some of their friends, had managed to capture most of theother specimens, and restore them to the green box. The crowd quieteddown, and Uriah Snodgrass made a hasty examination to see if he had allhis treasures.
"Any missing?" asked Jerry, trying not to laugh at his eccentric friend.
"There seems to be a pink flea gone," was the answer. Then, addressingthe throng, the scientist asked: "Has anyone a pink flea?"
"My dog has lots of fleas, but I don't know whether they're pink orred," replied an irreverent youth, and there was a laugh, which endedwhen a little girl cried out:
"There's something like a pink mosquito biting me, mister."
"Ha! That may be it. Let it bite you, little girl. It won't hurt much,"the professor said, hurrying to the child. Then he gave a delightedcry. "It's my pink flea! A very valuable specimen! Now I have all ofthem back again. You may start the airship, boys. I'll have to put anew lock on my specimen box, I guess."
"Do you really want to go with us?" asked Jerry, for there had been notime to question the professor since his excited arrival.
"Of course I do, boys," he answered.
"But we are going away out West, out in Arizona, to our gold mine, andperhaps farther--across the Rockies."
"I'll go wherever you go," was the answer of the little bald-headedscientist. "I am searching for a flying lizard for the museum withwhich I am connected, and I may as well look for it in the Rockies asanywhere else. Go ahead, boys, I'll accompany you."
"All right," agreed Jerry, deciding that they could question theprofessor later as to how he had come to know of their intended trip."Cast off, Bob--Ned."
"Cast off she is," responded the two, sailor fashion, as they againloosened the guy ropes.
"There they go!" shouted the crowd, waving hands, hats and handkerchiefs,as the motor ship trembled slightly.
"Good-bye!" shouted the parents of the boys.
"Good-bye," chorused the throng.
"Up they go--to the clouds--out of sight--fall down--get up again--flylike the wind--hit the moon--bounce off--come back--kill a grizzlybear--upside down--right again--there they go!" yelled a shrill voice,and it needed no one to tell the boys that it was Andy Rush.
The last rope was cast off, and the _Comet_, with a rush, went straightup. Jerry, in the pilot house, pulled over the lever controlling themotor and the big propellers began to revolve. The airship dartedahead, sailing over the heads of the crowd. The motor boys were off forthe west.